It has long been recognized that, if the natural beauty of wood could be incorporated into thin materials capable of being printed, folded and otherwise used in basically the same manner as paper, the result would be a very attractive product for a number of uses. Heretofore, many attempts have been made to simulate such a product by printing a reproduction of wood grain on a paper or plastic medium and, in some cases, this effort has produced a quality reproduction of the fine details of natural wood. However, the result is a simulated product which lacks the total appearance and feel of actual wood.
The problem with wood has always been that, unless it is cut to a web of such reduced thickness that it can be bent under normal circumstances in a manner similar to paper, the wood fibers are ruptured and, thus, the fold line appears as a break in the resulting material. Modern techniques of cutting sheets of veneer stock from a log have reached a point where such sheets can be cut with consistent quality and without rupture to a thickness of approximately 0.003-0.006 without tearing or otherwise creating defects. New cutting techniques create a veneer lamina which might be termed a "wood film" produced by such cutting. Veneer of this type, however, is fragile and, in order to preserve it, it must be supported by a stress absorbing and resisting backing. Particularly important is providing a flexible, tension resistant backing to support the veneer lamina against tension applied transversely of the wood grain. This invention has found a solution to that problem and, as a result, has produced a material which, in effect, combines the foldability of writing paper with a surface that is actually a thin film of a natural wood.